


Don't Look Down

by yuma (yuma_writes)



Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 14:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14771700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuma_writes/pseuds/yuma
Summary: Otherwise known as "The One with the Squirrel"





	Don't Look Down

**Author's Note:**

> (shrugging) Just go with it. LOL.

This was the last time he was doing Team Five any favors.

"Anything?" McG called out from behind Preach crouched in front of Dalton.

"No." Amir was muffled, somewhere past Dalton's sightlines and reach. Dalton frowned. He never liked it when his team wasn't where he could see them. And he was a little fuzzy as to why Amir sounded far away. Damn, maybe McG was right about the concussion after all. He batted away Preach's attempt to press down on his jaw with a pink pad of gauze—wait, wasn't that white before?

"Man, what are you doing?" McG complained. And there, past Preach's shoulder, McG stood in front of a large tree…having an argument with it? 

Concussion. Most likely. 

McG shielded his eyes with a hand to look past the glare of a new spring sun breaking through the leafy tops. 

"I can't see you," McG griped. "Are you even up there?"

"You're the one who gave him a boost up," Preach reminded McG.

Memory flooded back in. And Dalton scowled because he was sure between him spitting out blood and waving everyone off him he had specifically said not to let Amir go up that tree after it. 

It was just a squirrel, damn it.

"Get him down from there," Dalton mumbled. 

Preach patted Dalton on his knee like he was Patton. Dalton glared one eye at him because the pounding behind his other eye was making it water.

"Are you even looking?" McG called out, his arms spread wide.

"No," Amir shot back in a voice that matched the dryness in Dalton's mouth. "I climbed twelve feet up this tree for no apparent reason."

"Yea, yea, yea," McG grumbled. He looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at Dalton. Dalton squinted back. Or at least, he thought he did. McG doubled then merged. No matter how many McGuires he saw, they all looked like they wanted to call in for a dustoff and no, absolutely not. Not for this. He heard Noah stifling a snicker as he promised to tell Team Five the training was on hold indefinitely. Patricia told them they needed to stay off comms because they were a little too close to the Russian border, but he caught the crack in her voice when she signed off. And Hannah was suspiciously silent although Rivera was a former operative. Being silent was 101 in their handbook. 

McG scrunched up his eyes and tilted his dark head even further back.

"Maybe you're looking in the wrong direction, Amir?"

Actually, Dalton didn't think McG was looking at the right direction either; Amir or at least Amir's voice was a little more to the right.

"There's only up! Where else would I look?"

Preach loomed like the Afghani Mountains they were dropped on to play war games with Team Five. Like he said, last time he was doing them any favors, grill be damned. There was no proof Preach blew up their grill anyway; Amir had buried the evidence in the Turkish side of the base. Next time, Evans can find another team to test out their new comms system. 

"Keep looking," McG insisted. He twisted his pack around to hang in front of him instead. He looked like a demented kangaroo now, but again, it could be the concussion.

"Are you feeling nauseous?" McG demanded over his shoulder.

"Not yet," Amir said way up above them. "Why is this tree moving so much?"

"Not you." McG waved dismissively at the tree. He looked at Dalton, his mouth pursed. "You gonna throw up?"

_Yes_. 

"No," Dalton bit out.

McG grunted. He didn't appear to believe Dalton. He shoved a fist deep into his medic pack and tossed over another roll of gauze when Preach whistled. Dalton grimaced when Preach peeled away the padding. Damn it, how deep did that rodent bite him anyway?

"It could be rabid," McG went on.

"It's not rabid," Dalton grumbled. 

"I think it was just annoyed," Amir offered somewhere up the tree.

"Could be carnivorous," Jaz suddenly said with a shrug.

The tree stirred violently. Jaz made a face and hopped back when a few leaves fluttered down.

"You sent me up here to find a rabid possibly carnivorous squirrel?" Amir sounded appalled.

"It's not rabid!" Dalton called out before the others made it worse and startle Amir. "And it's not carnivorous either."

McG, skirting the border of insubordination and medic's prerogative, ignored Dalton. "You gotta find the guy so we can test it."

"Why," said a particularly rustling bunch of branches, "am _I_ the one up here looking for it?"

"That tree's not gonna hold me or Preach."

"Then why not Jaz?" Amir sounded particularly plaintive hidden up in the foliage.

Jaz's head was tilted up towards one part of the tree. Most likely tracking Amir whereas McG seemed content to just argue with the tree in general.

"In case I have to shoot it," Jaz reminded the tree—well, Amir.

"You might shoot _me_ ," Amir pointed out. However, he didn't sound like he was worried that could really happen. Everyone still remembered the shot she made last week and all their Benjamins going to her. He told them never bet against her. But did they listen? No. Of course not. Like how they're currently not hearing him that the squirrel wasn't rabid.

"I'm very good at hitting small targets," Jaz added.

McG scoffed. "Well, in that case, maybe Amir does have something to worry about."

A clump of leaves and branches rustled and muttered something impolite at McG. McG bared his teeth upwards in response.

Dalton sighed. He sat up straighter and took over pressing down on the bite mark on his jaw.

"It's not rabid. Amir, stop looking and get down from there."

"Then why did it attack you?" The tre—no, Amir said.

McG grunted. "Yeah man, that thing came out of nowhere."

"I've seen these things go right for the jugular." Jaz sniffed. 

Everyone—except Amir—stared at Jaz.

"Squirrels in New York," Jaz offered, her shoulder going up briefly. She glanced over to Dalton before going back to tracking their wayward climbing spy. 

"You have to admit," Preach rumbled as he passed Dalton yet another new pad, "When that thing came out of nowhere, you ran like Lucifer was on your heels."

"I wasn't—" Dalton glowered at Preach. "It startled me." He just minded his own business, waiting for Team Five's signal check, eating his protein bar when the furry bastard parachuted down from somewhere and bit him.

"Again, squirrels don't normally do that," Amir said, somewhere higher. "Are you sure it ran up this tree?"

Jaz grunted. "That's how far I tracked it before Top fell on his as—until he fell."

Dalton dragged his glare to Jaz now. "We're on a mountainside, you would fall too if you were attacked by a flying squirrel."

"Nah man, they don't fly." Even so, McG glanced up at the tree uneasily. He absently tugged his boonie hat lower over his eyes.

"Some species do," Preach said. "Although I don't think they have them here."

"So why did it attack Top?" Amir insisted, voice even farther up now.

McG frowned at the tree. "Amir, you don't need to go up that high. You fall, I'm not catching you."

"It doesn't make sense," Amir continued. Either he didn't hear McG, decided to ignore him or fixated once again on a puzzle. Amir still tunnels vision on something he can't figure out and forgets there are four others here to help him.

"Amir, you have good intuition on _human_ behavior," Dalton said because it sounded like Amir was at least twenty feet up now, "but we don't need a spy on a squirrel. Get down from there." 

"Huh."

Everyone tensed. They caught the "Oh shit" underneath the mild syllable.

"What?" Dalton gestured Preach. Preach gripped his shoulder once more before rising to his full frame.

"I think I found the squirrel." 

Dalton frowned. It sounded more like the squirrel found Amir.

"What's it doing?" McG asked as he edged closer to the tree. Preach took a step to the side so they could fan out around the tree's perimeter.

"I see it," Jaz said as her 416 tilted up.

"Jaz, we're not trimming the tree. Maybe you should switch to your Sig?" Dalton murmured. He checked the tree. Why wasn't Amir saying anything?

"Sig's range isn't accurate at that distance," Jaz muttered, her eye still squinted through her scope.

Dalton stiffened. "How high is he up there?"

"High," Jaz said curtly. 

"Amir," Dalton called out sternly. He tasted copper dribbling down to his lips. He dabbed the stained gauze over the bite again as he glowered where Amir might be. "Get down from there. Now."

"What are you doing up there?" McG shouted through his cupped hands.

"Not so loud!" Amir shushed McG. "Wait, let me try something…"

Dalton's eyebrow arched when a chittering noise slipped out of the leaves.

"I didn't know one of your eight languages was squirrel, man," McG chuckled.

"Nine," Jaz muttered. She smirked. "Did you really want to do that? You could be telling it to 'Come at me, bro.'"

"What else should I do?" The northern part of the tree, at Dalton's three o'clock, swayed. "It's looking at me."

"Don't make eye contact," McG advised, "Ain't that a sign of aggression?"

"That's wolves," Preach corrected. He stood there, appearing as sturdy as the tree, his thick arms folded across his chest. "Maybe you should back away from it slowly, Amir."

Some of the branches stirred. Then stilled.

"Oh." Amir sounded calm, which only made everyone feel the opposite. "I don't think that was a good idea."

McG jerked as he stepped forward, his arms flying up. "Don't worry, man, we gotch—"

Something landed square on McG's face. 

With a shout, arms windmilling, McG stumbled back and fell on his ass.

Above, a snicker floated free from the tree.

Below, Jaz chortled as she lowered her 416. Dalton narrowed his eyes when he realized her safety was still on.

Preach chuckled as he offered a hand. He quickly hauled McG back on his feet.

"You better start getting your quality rest with one eye open," McG warned the tree as he peeled Amir's boonie hat off his face. He clutched it in a fist and shook it towards Jaz. "Traitor."

Jaz laughed.

"I think the squirrel in question is gone," Amir called out. The tree wobbled as he descended. "And I'm pretty sure it wasn't rabid. I did see a nest up here, so that's probably why it—"

_Crack._

Dalton wasn't sure what happened first: the broken tree limb crashing to the ground, McG and Preach surging forward, or Dalton scrambling to his feet. By the time he was upright and the ground steadied—definitely a concussion—Amir, McG and Preach were a tangle of limbs on the ground.

Something skipped off the tree, bounced, bounced and bounced towards Dalton. It stopped outside of striking distance.

Dalton stared at it.

It gazed back.

Wordlessly, Dalton pulled out the rest of his protein bar from his tac vest. He paused. The thing didn't move. Slowly, he tossed the nutrition over. The creature caught it with its weirdly out of proportion paws, tail fluffed out and pranced off, up the very tree the guys were trying to stagger away from.

"Squirrel," Jaz called out before she rolled her eyes.

Dalton scowled as he watched McG and Preach try to balance Amir between them. One or three of them may be limping. Great.

With a sigh, Dalton scratched the uninjured side of his jaw.

Yeah. No more favors for Team Five.

**Author's Note:**

> So #BraveForever, I made the mistake of offering a fic if #TheBrave fans can hit 100K in the [So Many Shows](https://somanyshows.com/) Poll.
> 
> They did. 
> 
> And now I had a squirrel fic to write. Huh. LOL.
> 
>   
> Feedback is like cookies. I _like_ cookies.  
> 


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